Sunday, May 28, 2006

There are what is referred to as Locality Boas and Boa Morphs.Locality Boas are Boas that originate in a specific geographic area.To name a few Colombian Boas often referred to as redtail Boas.Pervian,Tumbes Peruvian Longicauda,Boa Ortinii ,all three types Boas of peru. Bolivian, Surinam , Guynan,Argentine, North Brazilian ,South Brazilian Boas all of South America.Then Central America has Nicaraguan,Costa Rican,EL Salvadoran,Belize, Hondruan Boas.Plus Island Boas are considered Central American like Hogg Island & Corn Isle Boas to name just a couple.Then there are the Morph Boas .Like Albino Boas,Hypo Boas Anery Boas,Motley Boas,Arabesque Boas Ghost Boas,Snow Boas,Sunglow Boas,Pastel Boas.The list continues although most of the Morph Boas are man made Morphs Morphs.Only a few originate from the wild,Like Anery short for Anerthristic Boa silver and Black lacking red pigment.

Unfortunately the history of this beautiful morph is not well documented. Anerythristic boas are imported to U.S.on a regular basis. There have also been anerythristic boas pop out in normal to normal breedings. Current speculation is that several strains of the Type I anerythristic exist. There is some evidence to back this up. There are at least two color variants, a brownish variant and a silver variant. Never the less these "Black Albinos" are key ingredients to many of the man-made morphs being created today. I know you might be asking yourself..."Black Albinos?" In simple terms that is exactly what anerythristics are, their pigment make-up is opposite to the albino boa. Albinos lack melanin which is black pigment, on the other hand anerythristics lack erythrin which is red pigment. These beautiful snakes are being used to create many designer boas, such as Snow Boas and Ghost Boas. This trait has been shown to be simple recessive.

TYPE II Anerythristic

Similar Anery from Central America

Hypo Boas,short for Hypomelanistic,lacking melanin to a degree.Aritcle from Kingsnake .com, by compliments of: J. McCullah:

HYPO-MELANISTIC BOA

To the best of the authors knowledge, the first hypo-melanistic boas came into the country from Panama. These boas where referred to as Orange-tails, because of the intense orange on their tail blotches. As a result of both line-breeding and out-breeding to lighter common Colombian boas, several phases have been established. Salmon phase hypos tend to have a darker rose-like pigmentation. Super Salmons, which are a product of breeding a salmon to a salmon, tend to be very light in overall color with very little black scaling. While hypo-melanistic boas lack black pigment they are not albinos. They lack melanin to certain degrees. There are hypo-melanistic boas born with nearly no black scaling but they still carry the black pigment. This trait has been proven co-dominant.ALBINO BOA

ORIGINAL STRAIN

In 1983 Four newborn albino boas were, imported from Colombia. The group consisted of three males and one female. Over the next six years the boas grew to sexual maturity. The owners were unable to get the boas to successfully reproduce, which resulted in their decision to sell one of the males. This single adult male albino boa was bought by Peter Kahl Baltimore,MD.

Peter paid $25,000.00, at which time was probably the largest amount ever paid for a single snake. Pete acquired six female Colombian boas and quarantined them from the male. In November of 1989 the seven animals were placed together. During December and January, the albino male repeatedly bred each female. In June of 1990 two of the six females produced babies. These babies were the first heterozygousfor albinos ever produced. As a result of heavy feedings, the babies were nearly six foot in length within one year. Due to their size Peter decided to put a group together for the 91' breeding season. The decision paid off. In June of 1992 the first captive born albino boas were produced. The litter consisted of 22 babies, three of which were albino.

CORAL PHASE

The coral albino boa is one that has appeared in several litters of theoriginal strain of albino boa. I have only produced a few coral albinoboas in the past four years and this season have bred two coral albinoswith each other. These are one of the most colorful of the albino boas Ihave ever seen. It should be interesting to see how the offspring turnout from this breeding. The litter shouldbe born in June 2000.

Article compliments of: Pete Kahl

PARADOX

If an animal has characteristics of an amelanistic albino but also has splashes of pitch-black pigmentation, then what is it? That is the nature of the paradox by this new boa constrictor morph produced by Vision Herpetological. Obviously there is a great deal yet to be learned about the genetics of pigmentation in snakes.The history of the "Paradox" boa constrictor is worth elaborating on because it shows the kinds ofreproductive experiments that can lead to new "designer" snakes. The sire of the "Paradox" boa is ahybrid Suriname red-tail boa x Colombian boa heterozygous for albinism(Boa constrictor constrictorx B. c. imperator). The sire was bred with two sibling female Colombian common boas (B. c. imperator) that were heterozygous for albinism.One female produced a litter of 16 babies, four of which ere albino. The other had a litter of 18 babies of which six were albino. Each female produced one "Paradox" boa constrictor. This suggests that a combination of two different recessive genes may be required for the expression of this trait. By raising these two female "Paradox" boas to sexual maturity and back crossing them to their father, it is hoped that the genetics of this new boa constrictor morph will be elucidated and this new morph will be established in herpetoculture

Article and Photos compliments of: David A. Northcott

Albino Boas probably the most well known Morph in general.The Albino Boa is a Tyronase negative Albino.Of which there are two strains .The original or Kahl strain and the Sharp Strain.The two strains are incompatible.

TYRONASE POSITIVE ABINO

T+ Albino

A Lesser known type of Albino Boa is the T+ Albino Caramel Albino Boa.T positive stands for Tyronase positive Albino.The other original Albino Strains are all T- Albino Boas.Of which two strains are known to exist.Colombian Strain originating with VPI Reptiles .The other being Central American strain from Nicaragua.Imported by Ben Seigel and owned by Tom Burke.Both strains are very beautiful but unique in there appearance and origins.

This morph was first produced by Steve Hammond of Exceptional Exotics in 1989. In 1993 the trait was proven genetic by Steve Hammond when he produced a litter that included sixteen arabesque. In 1997 Steve Hammond discovered that the morph was co-dominant when he bred it into his "Sunburst" line, which was totally unrelated to the original arabesque bloodline. The following year Peter Kahl bred and arabesque female to an albino male, the result being nearly half of the babies exhibiting the arabesque trait, making them heterozygous for albinism. The original arabesque line shows hyper-melanistic (increased melanin) traits. There is typically intense black speckling throughout the body, the belly is strongly marked in black as well as the head and the tail blotches are black. The linear pattern is typically connected by narrow saddles. The ground color is generally a light cocoa with a highly contrasting dark pattern. Steve Hammond has also produced a line of arabesque boas known as "sunburst" arabesque that have little to no black speckling and intense orange, pink and gold hues. In the very near future we should also see "albino arabesques".

MOTLEY BOA

Article compliments of: Jeremy Stone

The Motley Boa is a new Genetic pattern mutation of the Boa. It is a fusion of dorsal striping with no side pattern, and pin five stripes. It has circles on the back as apposed to the common squares or diamonds. Motleys show more of a lavender/silver color as opposed to the common brown boas that we see from Columbia. The Motley is a Columbian boa imported as a baby in 94. A Florida Breeder picked it up and named it the Motley Boa because it strongly resembles the Motley cornsnake in pattern. Having a hunch it was genetic, he bred it to a normal female common Boa. She gave birth to 12 babies. Of the 12 babies, 6 were Motley, and the other 6 were normal. Three of the Motley boas were dead in the sac, and two of the other three died shortly after birth. That leaves us with one baby and the original father who has not produced offspring to this date since. Both Motley boas are males, and have been breeding heavy for this 2000 season, some females are gravid and hopefully baby Motleys are on the way. There are many interesting possibilities with this new gene. We can get ghost, snow, and sunglow Motleys. We can also get SUPER MOTLEYS and Albino Motleys which will be a true striped albino. The list goes on and on.

JUNGLE BOA

Article compliments of: Peter Kahl

The Jungle Boa originated in Sweden from the breeding of a aberrant patterned boa. This boa was bred back to one of it's offspring and Jungle Boas were born for the first time along with some odd patterned boas and some normal looking babies. We are not sure what will come from Jungle to Jungle breeding but we do know if you breed the odd patterned babies you will get a percentage of Jungle Boas, odd striped, and normal looking boas. I'm not sure what you would get from thenormallooking siblings. We hope to know more this summer. I have included some photos of Jungles and the odd patterned heteros for you to enjoy.

That Swedish Line I'm certain originated with Man named Brendle.The Brendle Swedish Line are the only true Jungle Boas.Any other Aberrant Boa is just that that an Aberrant Boa.Not to say there are not some excellent Looking aberrncies out there.

Boa Constrictors make great pets for anybody.In particular though people who have allergies. Any person who is allergic to cat dander or dog dander knows how miserable it is when these animals are present. Even though cats & dogs are such wonderful companions.When a person is sneezing with a stuffed up nose. Their eyes areitchy, red and irritated.Aswonderful as they are,it just isn't possible to keep cats or dogs when allergies flare up due to the presents.These people need not live their lives without a companion pet.A wonderful alternative does exist, Boa Constrictors. Boa Constrictors can help fill the empty gap that exists in a persons life when their allergies force them to give up having cats or dogs around. There are so many different colors ,Localities ,Morphs and patterns to choose from.Large Adult Boas like Colombians or smaller forms such as Central American Boas. Nicaraguan or Honduran Boas are popular Central American (C.A.) Boas people enjoy collecting.Then there are island Boas ,such as Hogg island,corn island or crawl cay Boas.None of these C.A. or Island variety Boas tend to get very large.This makes all of the C.A. Boas popular Boas in collections as pets!!

Boa Constrictors make great pets!! They are very easy going docile animals.They cause no harm to humans, and have no interest in doing so. Statistically no person has ever been killed by a Boa Constrictor in the United States almost certainly not world wide either.

I'll never understand why so many people have such agreat fear & hatredof Snakes. Of course, Venomous snakes are dangerous,deadly and certainly pose a danger to any human. Although most snake bites areaccidents.The snake bites in defense after being stepped on by an unaware human.Most People are never in a position to be exposed to venemous snakes though. What doesn't make sense are people with an intense hatred or extreme fear of Boa Constrictors? These animals,for the most part are extremely gentle and timid creatures. Boa Constrictors are quiet non aggressive snakes. The onlytime Boas become aggressive is at feeding time for the most part. Of course there are exceptions to this .Boas can act out aggressively if they feel threatened with harm.In captivity most Boas feel quite secure ,remaining calm and quiet. Boas can eat a wide variety of animals in their natural habitat. Which is for the most part the Jungles of Central and South America.Boas diet consists of Lizards, Rodents, other snakes, birds, and small mammals to name a few. The Boa Constrictor will normally feed on an animal smaller in size then the Boas girth at the largest spot. Boas can not & will not eat or attempt to eat homo Sapiens! Homo Sapiens a far too large for the Boa Constrictor to take notice! The Boa "Constricts" its prey not crushing it to death but suffocating it to death. Every time the prey breaths out the Boa tightens its grip eventually the prey item can not inhale a breath and suffocates.In captivity Boas are fed a diet of mostly medium & Large Adult Rats.Young smaller Boas are fed mice of appropriate size. The size of the food item corresponds directly to the size of the Boa. Some Boas are fed rabbits.Most Breeders feed their Boas pre-killed rats.A Rat can badly injure or even kill a Boa.Plus, personally I just don't Like the idea of putting a poor rat in the cage to killed by the Boa. Also I think pre-killed or frozen thawed in my case helps keep the Boa even that much more docile. The Boa Constrictor species consists of a large varietyof Locality Boas and color pattern Morphs.There are two main groups or classification of Boa Constrictors. These two groups are "BCI"- "Boa Constrictor Imperator" and "BCC"- "Boa Constrictor Constrictor". "BCC" Boas are often referred to as "True Redtails" due to their bright orange/red or maroon/ burnt-Red tails.Almost all Boas have a reddish or orange colored tail,not all though. The BCC Boa mainly comes from South America near the Equator. Peru , Guyana, Surinam, Brazil the Amazon Basin.Other SouthAmerican Boa speciesexist,Bolivian Amarali Boas,fromBolivia of course. Bolivian Boas are very beautiful silver greyish colored Boaswith bright orange ,red,purple or fluorescent pink highlights on their flanks and a short amount of reddish color tail splotches. Argentina has their own variety of Boa as well.These Argentine Boas are very dark colored.This dark color probably exists so the Boa can warm up from the Sunshine quicker beingthe farthest South of the Boa Species. Argentina's more harsh weather climate forced the Argentine Boas to adapt. Argentine Boas are protected By "CITES" because they were hunted for their skins so much in the past.There are many other Locality Boas I have just touched the surface here with the more well known or popuplar species. Other types of Boas within these groups of "BCI" & "BCC" Boas exist.I'll refer to them as color and Pattern Morph Boas. There are many natural occurring Color and pattern Morph Boas that have been discovered. Many of the Color and Pattern Morph Boas are Man made or developed.Some of the natural occurring Morphs are T- Albino Boas-red eyes lacking red Black pigment or Tyronase.Tyronase is what the "T" stands for. There are two types or strains of T- Albino Boas. The original Strain or Kahl strain and the other is the Sharp StrainAlbi no Boa.T- Albino Boas are more common then T+ Albino Boas.There are very few people who own T+ Albino Boas.There are two types of T+ Albino "BCI" Colombian T+ Albino Boa or CaramelAlbino Boas as some people call them. The other "BCI" T+ Albino is the Nicaraguan T+ Albino. Argentine T+ Albino Boas also exsist.Another natural occurring Morph Boa is the "Anery" Boa short for Anerythristic Boa.The "Anery" Boa Lacks any red pigment and should appear white or sliver and black,some are a brownish color though. Another Morph is the "Hypo" Boa short for Hypomelanistic. Then there are some natural occurring pattern Morph Boas Like the Arabesque or theMotley Boa. Pictures area better explanation for these two Morphs.Then there are many man made Morph Boas .Breeders combine these Natural occurring Morphs to create Boas Like the Snow Boa which is a combination of the T- Albino and the Anery Boas. Sunglow combo of the T- Albino and "Hypo" Boas. Ghost Boas are a combo of "Hypo" and "Anery" Boas. Pastel Boas Stripe Boas and many other types of Morph Boa exist.T+ Albino Boas are very rare though.Only something like six people in the entire world own Colombian T+ Albino "Caramel" Boas. As for T+ Nicaraguan very few of these exist either. T+ Argentine Boas are rare but there are quite a few more of these then the other two. So over all what's not to Like about Boa Constrictors .Boa Constrictors are mellow easy going animals. With beautiful markings and coloring. Boas not all but alot of them are very intelligent acting. Some Boas are even socialable animals and interact with people very well. SomeBoas know there names but like most kitty-cats they don'tcome when they are called either. They do Look at you when there name is spoken the special Boas ,not all of them. There is no dander or hair shedding from Boas. So allergies are not a factor.Boas shed their skin every few few months that's usually in one piece.They kind of roll it off starting from the tip of their nose working it off towards the tail.Once the skin has been shed it's inside out and rolled up much Like a women rolls up her stockings/Panty Hose. Feed the Boa a frozen thawed rat every seven to twentyone days aproximately.Keep there water dish clean & full as well as their enclosure .There's not much else to keeping them as pets.Breeding them is another story altogether.Well I'll put a few pictures up now and again to show all the different types of Boas.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

There are what is referred to as Locality Boas and Boa Morphs.Locality Boas are Boas that originate in a specific geographic area.To name a few Colombian Boas often referred to as redtail Boas.Pervian,Tumbes Peruvian Longicauda,Boa Ortinii ,all three types Boas of peru. Bolivian, Surinam , Guynan,Argentine, North Brazilian ,South Brazilian Boas all of South America.Then Central America has Nicaraguan,Costa Rican,EL Salvadoran,Belize, Hondruan Boas.Plus Island Boas are considered Central American like Hogg Island & Corn Isle Boas to name just a couple.Then there are the Morph Boas .Like Albino Boas,Hypo Boas Anery Boas,Motley Boas,Arabesque Boas Ghost Boas,Snow Boas,Sunglow Boas,Pastel Boas.The list continues although most of the Morph Boas are man made Morphs Morphs.Only a few originate from the wild,Like Anery short for Anerthristic Boa silver and Black lacking red pigment.

Unfortunately the history of this beautiful morph is not well documented. Anerythristic boas are imported to U.S.on a regular basis. There have also been anerythristic boas pop out in normal to normal breedings. Current speculation is that several strains of the Type I anerythristic exist. There is some evidence to back this up. There are at least two color variants, a brownish variant and a silver variant. Never the less these "Black Albinos" are key ingredients to many of the man-made morphs being created today. I know you might be asking yourself..."Black Albinos?" In simple terms that is exactly what anerythristics are, their pigment make-up is opposite to the albino boa. Albinos lack melanin which is black pigment, on the other hand anerythristics lack erythrin which is red pigment. These beautiful snakes are being used to create many designer boas, such as Snow Boas and Ghost Boas. This trait has been shown to be simple recessive.

TYPE II Anerythristic

Similar Anery from Central America

Hypo Boas,short for Hypomelanistic,lacking melanin to a degree.Aritcle from Kingsnake .com, by compliments of: J. McCullah:

HYPO-MELANISTIC BOA

To the best of the authors knowledge, the first hypo-melanistic boas came into the country from Panama. These boas where referred to as Orange-tails, because of the intense orange on their tail blotches. As a result of both line-breeding and out-breeding to lighter common Colombian boas, several phases have been established. Salmon phase hypos tend to have a darker rose-like pigmentation. Super Salmons, which are a product of breeding a salmon to a salmon, tend to be very light in overall color with very little black scaling. While hypo-melanistic boas lack black pigment they are not albinos. They lack melanin to certain degrees. There are hypo-melanistic boas born with nearly no black scaling but they still carry the black pigment. This trait has been proven co-dominant.ALBINO BOA

ORIGINAL STRAIN

In 1983 Four newborn albino boas were, imported from Colombia. The group consisted of three males and one female. Over the next six years the boas grew to sexual maturity. The owners were unable to get the boas to successfully reproduce, which resulted in their decision to sell one of the males. This single adult male albino boa was bought by Peter Kahl Baltimore,MD.

Peter paid $25,000.00, at which time was probably the largest amount ever paid for a single snake. Pete acquired six female Colombian boas and quarantined them from the male. In November of 1989 the seven animals were placed together. During December and January, the albino male repeatedly bred each female. In June of 1990 two of the six females produced babies. These babies were the first heterozygousfor albinos ever produced. As a result of heavy feedings, the babies were nearly six foot in length within one year. Due to their size Peter decided to put a group together for the 91' breeding season. The decision paid off. In June of 1992 the first captive born albino boas were produced. The litter consisted of 22 babies, three of which were albino.

CORAL PHASE

The coral albino boa is one that has appeared in several litters of theoriginal strain of albino boa. I have only produced a few coral albinoboas in the past four years and this season have bred two coral albinoswith each other. These are one of the most colorful of the albino boas Ihave ever seen. It should be interesting to see how the offspring turnout from this breeding. The litter shouldbe born in June 2000.

Article compliments of: Pete Kahl

PARADOX

If an animal has characteristics of an amelanistic albino but also has splashes of pitch-black pigmentation, then what is it? That is the nature of the paradox by this new boa constrictor morph produced by Vision Herpetological. Obviously there is a great deal yet to be learned about the genetics of pigmentation in snakes.The history of the "Paradox" boa constrictor is worth elaborating on because it shows the kinds ofreproductive experiments that can lead to new "designer" snakes. The sire of the "Paradox" boa is ahybrid Suriname red-tail boa x Colombian boa heterozygous for albinism(Boa constrictor constrictorx B. c. imperator). The sire was bred with two sibling female Colombian common boas (B. c. imperator) that were heterozygous for albinism.One female produced a litter of 16 babies, four of which ere albino. The other had a litter of 18 babies of which six were albino. Each female produced one "Paradox" boa constrictor. This suggests that a combination of two different recessive genes may be required for the expression of this trait. By raising these two female "Paradox" boas to sexual maturity and back crossing them to their father, it is hoped that the genetics of this new boa constrictor morph will be elucidated and this new morph will be established in herpetoculture

Article and Photos compliments of: David A. Northcott

Albino Boas probably the most well known Morph in general.The Albino Boa is a Tyronase negative Albino.Of which there are two strains .The original or Kahl strain and the Sharp Strain.The two strains are incompatible.

TYRONASE POSITIVE ABINO

T+ Albino

A Lesser known type of Albino Boa is the T+ Albino Caramel Albino Boa.T positive stands for Tyronase positive Albino.The other original Albino Strains are all T- Albino Boas.Of which two strains are known to exist.Colombian Strain originating with VPI Reptiles .The other being Central American strain from Nicaragua.Imported by Ben Seigel and owned by Tom Burke.Both strains are very beautiful but unique in there appearance and origins.

This morph was first produced by Steve Hammond of Exceptional Exotics in 1989. In 1993 the trait was proven genetic by Steve Hammond when he produced a litter that included sixteen arabesque. In 1997 Steve Hammond discovered that the morph was co-dominant when he bred it into his "Sunburst" line, which was totally unrelated to the original arabesque bloodline. The following year Peter Kahl bred and arabesque female to an albino male, the result being nearly half of the babies exhibiting the arabesque trait, making them heterozygous for albinism. The original arabesque line shows hyper-melanistic (increased melanin) traits. There is typically intense black speckling throughout the body, the belly is strongly marked in black as well as the head and the tail blotches are black. The linear pattern is typically connected by narrow saddles. The ground color is generally a light cocoa with a highly contrasting dark pattern. Steve Hammond has also produced a line of arabesque boas known as "sunburst" arabesque that have little to no black speckling and intense orange, pink and gold hues. In the very near future we should also see "albino arabesques".

MOTLEY BOA

Article compliments of: Jeremy Stone

The Motley Boa is a new Genetic pattern mutation of the Boa. It is a fusion of dorsal striping with no side pattern, and pin five stripes. It has circles on the back as apposed to the common squares or diamonds. Motleys show more of a lavender/silver color as opposed to the common brown boas that we see from Columbia. The Motley is a Columbian boa imported as a baby in 94. A Florida Breeder picked it up and named it the Motley Boa because it strongly resembles the Motley cornsnake in pattern. Having a hunch it was genetic, he bred it to a normal female common Boa. She gave birth to 12 babies. Of the 12 babies, 6 were Motley, and the other 6 were normal. Three of the Motley boas were dead in the sac, and two of the other three died shortly after birth. That leaves us with one baby and the original father who has not produced offspring to this date since. Both Motley boas are males, and have been breeding heavy for this 2000 season, some females are gravid and hopefully baby Motleys are on the way. There are many interesting possibilities with this new gene. We can get ghost, snow, and sunglow Motleys. We can also get SUPER MOTLEYS and Albino Motleys which will be a true striped albino. The list goes on and on.

JUNGLE BOA

Article compliments of: Peter Kahl

The Jungle Boa originated in Sweden from the breeding of a aberrant patterned boa. This boa was bred back to one of it's offspring and Jungle Boas were born for the first time along with some odd patterned boas and some normal looking babies. We are not sure what will come from Jungle to Jungle breeding but we do know if you breed the odd patterned babies you will get a percentage of Jungle Boas, odd striped, and normal looking boas. I'm not sure what you would get from thenormallooking siblings. We hope to know more this summer. I have included some photos of Jungles and the odd patterned heteros for you to enjoy.

That Swedish Line I'm certain originated with Man named Brendle.The Brendle Swedish Line are the only true Jungle Boas.Any other Aberrant Boa is just that that an Aberrant Boa.Not to say there are not some excellent Looking aberrncies out there.

Boa Constrictors make great pets for anybody.In particular though people who have allergies. Any person who is allergic to cat dander or dog dander knows how miserable it is when these animals are present. Even though cats & dogs are such wonderful companions.When a person is sneezing with a stuffed up nose. Their eyes areitchy, red and irritated.Aswonderful as they are,it just isn't possible to keep cats or dogs when allergies flare up due to the presents.These people need not live their lives without a companion pet.A wonderful alternative does exist, Boa Constrictors. Boa Constrictors can help fill the empty gap that exists in a persons life when their allergies force them to give up having cats or dogs around. There are so many different colors ,Localities ,Morphs and patterns to choose from.Large Adult Boas like Colombians or smaller forms such as Central American Boas. Nicaraguan or Honduran Boas are popular Central American (C.A.) Boas people enjoy collecting.Then there are island Boas ,such as Hogg island,corn island or crawl cay Boas.None of these C.A. or Island variety Boas tend to get very large.This makes all of the C.A. Boas popular Boas in collections as pets!!

Boa Constrictors make great pets!! They are very easy going docile animals.They cause no harm to humans, and have no interest in doing so. Statistically no person has ever been killed by a Boa Constrictor in the United States almost certainly not world wide either.

I'll never understand why so many people have such agreat fear & hatredof Snakes. Of course, Venomous snakes are dangerous,deadly and certainly pose a danger to any human. Although most snake bites areaccidents.The snake bites in defense after being stepped on by an unaware human.Most People are never in a position to be exposed to venemous snakes though. What doesn't make sense are people with an intense hatred or extreme fear of Boa Constrictors? These animals,for the most part are extremely gentle and timid creatures. Boa Constrictors are quiet non aggressive snakes. The onlytime Boas become aggressive is at feeding time for the most part. Of course there are exceptions to this .Boas can act out aggressively if they feel threatened with harm.In captivity most Boas feel quite secure ,remaining calm and quiet. Boas can eat a wide variety of animals in their natural habitat. Which is for the most part the Jungles of Central and South America.Boas diet consists of Lizards, Rodents, other snakes, birds, and small mammals to name a few. The Boa Constrictor will normally feed on an animal smaller in size then the Boas girth at the largest spot. Boas can not & will not eat or attempt to eat homo Sapiens! Homo Sapiens a far too large for the Boa Constrictor to take notice! The Boa "Constricts" its prey not crushing it to death but suffocating it to death. Every time the prey breaths out the Boa tightens its grip eventually the prey item can not inhale a breath and suffocates.In captivity Boas are fed a diet of mostly medium & Large Adult Rats.Young smaller Boas are fed mice of appropriate size. The size of the food item corresponds directly to the size of the Boa. Some Boas are fed rabbits.Most Breeders feed their Boas pre-killed rats.A Rat can badly injure or even kill a Boa.Plus, personally I just don't Like the idea of putting a poor rat in the cage to killed by the Boa. Also I think pre-killed or frozen thawed in my case helps keep the Boa even that much more docile. The Boa Constrictor species consists of a large varietyof Locality Boas and color pattern Morphs.There are two main groups or classification of Boa Constrictors. These two groups are "BCI"- "Boa Constrictor Imperator" and "BCC"- "Boa Constrictor Constrictor". "BCC" Boas are often referred to as "True Redtails" due to their bright orange/red or maroon/ burnt-Red tails.Almost all Boas have a reddish or orange colored tail,not all though. The BCC Boa mainly comes from South America near the Equator. Peru , Guyana, Surinam, Brazil the Amazon Basin.Other SouthAmerican Boa speciesexist,Bolivian Amarali Boas,fromBolivia of course. Bolivian Boas are very beautiful silver greyish colored Boaswith bright orange ,red,purple or fluorescent pink highlights on their flanks and a short amount of reddish color tail splotches. Argentina has their own variety of Boa as well.These Argentine Boas are very dark colored.This dark color probably exists so the Boa can warm up from the Sunshine quicker beingthe farthest South of the Boa Species. Argentina's more harsh weather climate forced the Argentine Boas to adapt. Argentine Boas are protected By "CITES" because they were hunted for their skins so much in the past.There are many other Locality Boas I have just touched the surface here with the more well known or popuplar species. Other types of Boas within these groups of "BCI" & "BCC" Boas exist.I'll refer to them as color and Pattern Morph Boas. There are many natural occurring Color and pattern Morph Boas that have been discovered. Many of the Color and Pattern Morph Boas are Man made or developed.Some of the natural occurring Morphs are T- Albino Boas-red eyes lacking red Black pigment or Tyronase.Tyronase is what the "T" stands for. There are two types or strains of T- Albino Boas. The original Strain or Kahl strain and the other is the Sharp StrainAlbi no Boa.T- Albino Boas are more common then T+ Albino Boas.There are very few people who own T+ Albino Boas.There are two types of T+ Albino "BCI" Colombian T+ Albino Boa or CaramelAlbino Boas as some people call them. The other "BCI" T+ Albino is the Nicaraguan T+ Albino. Argentine T+ Albino Boas also exsist.Another natural occurring Morph Boa is the "Anery" Boa short for Anerythristic Boa.The "Anery" Boa Lacks any red pigment and should appear white or sliver and black,some are a brownish color though. Another Morph is the "Hypo" Boa short for Hypomelanistic. Then there are some natural occurring pattern Morph Boas Like the Arabesque or theMotley Boa. Pictures area better explanation for these two Morphs.Then there are many man made Morph Boas .Breeders combine these Natural occurring Morphs to create Boas Like the Snow Boa which is a combination of the T- Albino and the Anery Boas. Sunglow combo of the T- Albino and "Hypo" Boas. Ghost Boas are a combo of "Hypo" and "Anery" Boas. Pastel Boas Stripe Boas and many other types of Morph Boa exist.T+ Albino Boas are very rare though.Only something like six people in the entire world own Colombian T+ Albino "Caramel" Boas. As for T+ Nicaraguan very few of these exist either. T+ Argentine Boas are rare but there are quite a few more of these then the other two. So over all what's not to Like about Boa Constrictors .Boa Constrictors are mellow easy going animals. With beautiful markings and coloring. Boas not all but alot of them are very intelligent acting. Some Boas are even socialable animals and interact with people very well. SomeBoas know there names but like most kitty-cats they don'tcome when they are called either. They do Look at you when there name is spoken the special Boas ,not all of them. There is no dander or hair shedding from Boas. So allergies are not a factor.Boas shed their skin every few few months that's usually in one piece.They kind of roll it off starting from the tip of their nose working it off towards the tail.Once the skin has been shed it's inside out and rolled up much Like a women rolls up her stockings/Panty Hose. Feed the Boa a frozen thawed rat every seven to twentyone days aproximately.Keep there water dish clean & full as well as their enclosure .There's not much else to keeping them as pets.Breeding them is another story altogether.Well I'll put a few pictures up now and again to show all the different types of Boas.

The original Pledge of Allegiance"I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands- one nation indivisible-with liberty and justice for all."On September 8,1892, the Boston based "The Youth's Companion" magazine published a few words for students to repeat on Columbus Day that year. Written by Francis Bellamy,the circulation manager and native of Rome, New York, and reprinted on thousands of leaflets, was sent out to public schools across the country. On October 12, 1892, the quadricentennial of Columbus' arrival, more than 12 million children recited the Pledge of Allegiance, thus beginning a required school-day ritual.At the first National Flag Conference in Washington D.C., on June14, 1923, a change was made. For clarity, the words "the Flag of the United States" replaced "my flag". In the following years various other changes were suggested but were never formally adopted.It was not until 1942 that Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance. One year later, in June 1943, the Supreme Court ruled that school children could not be forced to recite it. In fact,today only half of our fifty states have laws that encourage the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in the classroom!In June of 1954 an amendment was made to add the words "under God". Then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower said "In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war."

A Lesson For Americans by Mike DalkaMy Grandfather was a glider infantryman in WWII, an advisor in Korea, and lost one of his sons, my uncle Gary Edwards, in Vietnam. I worked in his auto repair station during high school and he flew his flag in front daily. One day while I was sweeping the oil dry out of the bays it began to sprinkle rain. He told me to go get the flag and I said "gimme a second." He said, "It is raining, go get the flag NOW." Well I popped off my mouth about how he should cool it, it isn't going to melt or some such typical teenage comment.My grandfather is the toughest man I've ever met. He explained once that he thought basic training was some sort of country club during WWII, because he was used to hard work anyway, and at home he didn't have indoor toilets or hot running water! And when I said whatever it was that I said to him, he turned deep crimson and I thought, "God save me, he's going to kill me for talking back." Instead tears welled up in his eyes and he squeaked out "You don't understand what this family has paid for the right to fly that flag." Then he turned his back on me and went out and got the flag. I just stood there feeling like the smallest person to ever live. Those words cut me so deep. I wish the entire country could have heard them.[ I ] hope that this Nation might yet have enough people who understand the cost of liberty to turn things around.

This information was taken from a website maintained by Duane Streufert,

Saturday, September 10, 2005

There are what is referred to as Locality Boas and Boa Morphs.Locality Boas are Boas that originate in a specific geographic area.To name a few Colombian Boas often referred to as redtail Boas.Pervian,Tumbes Peruvian Longicauda,Boa Ortinii ,all three types Boas of peru. Bolivian, Surinam , Guynan,Argentine, North Brazilian ,South Brazilian Boas all of South America.Then Central America has Nicaraguan,Costa Rican,EL Salvadoran,Belize, Hondruan Boas.Plus Island Boas are considered Central American like Hogg Island & Corn Isle Boas to name just a couple.Then there are the Morph Boas .Like Albino Boas,Hypo Boas Anery Boas,Motley Boas,Arabesque Boas Ghost Boas,Snow Boas,Sunglow Boas,Pastel Boas.The list continues although most of the Morph Boas are man made Morphs Morphs.Only a few originate from the wild,Like Anery short for Anerthristic Boa silver and Black lacking red pigment.

Unfortunately the history of this beautiful morph is not well documented. Anerythristic boas are imported to U.S.on a regular basis. There have also been anerythristic boas pop out in normal to normal breedings. Current speculation is that several strains of the Type I anerythristic exist. There is some evidence to back this up. There are at least two color variants, a brownish variant and a silver variant. Never the less these "Black Albinos" are key ingredients to many of the man-made morphs being created today. I know you might be asking yourself..."Black Albinos?" In simple terms that is exactly what anerythristics are, their pigment make-up is opposite to the albino boa. Albinos lack melanin which is black pigment, on the other hand anerythristics lack erythrin which is red pigment. These beautiful snakes are being used to create many designer boas, such as Snow Boas and Ghost Boas. This trait has been shown to be simple recessive.

TYPE II Anerythristic

Similar Anery from Central America

Hypo Boas,short for Hypomelanistic,lacking melanin to a degree.Aritcle from Kingsnake .com, by compliments of: J. McCullah:

HYPO-MELANISTIC BOA

To the best of the authors knowledge, the first hypo-melanistic boas came into the country from Panama. These boas where referred to as Orange-tails, because of the intense orange on their tail blotches. As a result of both line-breeding and out-breeding to lighter common Colombian boas, several phases have been established. Salmon phase hypos tend to have a darker rose-like pigmentation. Super Salmons, which are a product of breeding a salmon to a salmon, tend to be very light in overall color with very little black scaling. While hypo-melanistic boas lack black pigment they are not albinos. They lack melanin to certain degrees. There are hypo-melanistic boas born with nearly no black scaling but they still carry the black pigment. This trait has been proven co-dominant.ALBINO BOA

ORIGINAL STRAIN

In 1983 Four newborn albino boas were, imported from Colombia. The group consisted of three males and one female. Over the next six years the boas grew to sexual maturity. The owners were unable to get the boas to successfully reproduce, which resulted in their decision to sell one of the males. This single adult male albino boa was bought by Peter Kahl Baltimore,MD.

Peter paid $25,000.00, at which time was probably the largest amount ever paid for a single snake. Pete acquired six female Colombian boas and quarantined them from the male. In November of 1989 the seven animals were placed together. During December and January, the albino male repeatedly bred each female. In June of 1990 two of the six females produced babies. These babies were the first heterozygousfor albinos ever produced. As a result of heavy feedings, the babies were nearly six foot in length within one year. Due to their size Peter decided to put a group together for the 91' breeding season. The decision paid off. In June of 1992 the first captive born albino boas were produced. The litter consisted of 22 babies, three of which were albino.

CORAL PHASE

The coral albino boa is one that has appeared in several litters of theoriginal strain of albino boa. I have only produced a few coral albinoboas in the past four years and this season have bred two coral albinoswith each other. These are one of the most colorful of the albino boas Ihave ever seen. It should be interesting to see how the offspring turnout from this breeding. The litter shouldbe born in June 2000.

Article compliments of: Pete Kahl

PARADOX

If an animal has characteristics of an amelanistic albino but also has splashes of pitch-black pigmentation, then what is it? That is the nature of the paradox by this new boa constrictor morph produced by Vision Herpetological. Obviously there is a great deal yet to be learned about the genetics of pigmentation in snakes.The history of the "Paradox" boa constrictor is worth elaborating on because it shows the kinds ofreproductive experiments that can lead to new "designer" snakes. The sire of the "Paradox" boa is ahybrid Suriname red-tail boa x Colombian boa heterozygous for albinism(Boa constrictor constrictorx B. c. imperator). The sire was bred with two sibling female Colombian common boas (B. c. imperator) that were heterozygous for albinism.One female produced a litter of 16 babies, four of which ere albino. The other had a litter of 18 babies of which six were albino. Each female produced one "Paradox" boa constrictor. This suggests that a combination of two different recessive genes may be required for the expression of this trait. By raising these two female "Paradox" boas to sexual maturity and back crossing them to their father, it is hoped that the genetics of this new boa constrictor morph will be elucidated and this new morph will be established in herpetoculture

Article and Photos compliments of: David A. Northcott

Albino Boas probably the most well known Morph in general.The Albino Boa is a Tyronase negative Albino.Of which there are two strains .The original or Kahl strain and the Sharp Strain.The two strains are incompatible.

TYRONASE POSITIVE ABINO

T+ Albino

A Lesser known type of Albino Boa is the T+ Albino Caramel Albino Boa.T positive stands for Tyronase positive Albino.The other original Albino Strains are all T- Albino Boas.Of which two strains are known to exist.Colombian Strain originating with VPI Reptiles .The other being Central American strain from Nicaragua.Imported by Ben Seigel and owned by Tom Burke.Both strains are very beautiful but unique in there appearance and origins.

This morph was first produced by Steve Hammond of Exceptional Exotics in 1989. In 1993 the trait was proven genetic by Steve Hammond when he produced a litter that included sixteen arabesque. In 1997 Steve Hammond discovered that the morph was co-dominant when he bred it into his "Sunburst" line, which was totally unrelated to the original arabesque bloodline. The following year Peter Kahl bred and arabesque female to an albino male, the result being nearly half of the babies exhibiting the arabesque trait, making them heterozygous for albinism. The original arabesque line shows hyper-melanistic (increased melanin) traits. There is typically intense black speckling throughout the body, the belly is strongly marked in black as well as the head and the tail blotches are black. The linear pattern is typically connected by narrow saddles. The ground color is generally a light cocoa with a highly contrasting dark pattern. Steve Hammond has also produced a line of arabesque boas known as "sunburst" arabesque that have little to no black speckling and intense orange, pink and gold hues. In the very near future we should also see "albino arabesques".

MOTLEY BOA

Article compliments of: Jeremy Stone

The Motley Boa is a new Genetic pattern mutation of the Boa. It is a fusion of dorsal striping with no side pattern, and pin five stripes. It has circles on the back as apposed to the common squares or diamonds. Motleys show more of a lavender/silver color as opposed to the common brown boas that we see from Columbia. The Motley is a Columbian boa imported as a baby in 94. A Florida Breeder picked it up and named it the Motley Boa because it strongly resembles the Motley cornsnake in pattern. Having a hunch it was genetic, he bred it to a normal female common Boa. She gave birth to 12 babies. Of the 12 babies, 6 were Motley, and the other 6 were normal. Three of the Motley boas were dead in the sac, and two of the other three died shortly after birth. That leaves us with one baby and the original father who has not produced offspring to this date since. Both Motley boas are males, and have been breeding heavy for this 2000 season, some females are gravid and hopefully baby Motleys are on the way. There are many interesting possibilities with this new gene. We can get ghost, snow, and sunglow Motleys. We can also get SUPER MOTLEYS and Albino Motleys which will be a true striped albino. The list goes on and on.

JUNGLE BOA

Article compliments of: Peter Kahl

The Jungle Boa originated in Sweden from the breeding of a aberrant patterned boa. This boa was bred back to one of it's offspring and Jungle Boas were born for the first time along with some odd patterned boas and some normal looking babies. We are not sure what will come from Jungle to Jungle breeding but we do know if you breed the odd patterned babies you will get a percentage of Jungle Boas, odd striped, and normal looking boas. I'm not sure what you would get from thenormallooking siblings. We hope to know more this summer. I have included some photos of Jungles and the odd patterned heteros for you to enjoy.

That Swedish Line I'm certain originated with Man named Brendle.The Brendle Swedish Line are the only true Jungle Boas.Any other Aberrant Boa is just that that an Aberrant Boa.Not to say there are not some excellent Looking aberrncies out there.

Boa Constrictors make great pets for anybody.In particular though people who have allergies. Any person who is allergic to cat dander or dog dander knows how miserable it is when these animals are present. Even though cats & dogs are such wonderful companions.When a person is sneezing with a stuffed up nose. Their eyes areitchy, red and irritated.Aswonderful as they are,it just isn't possible to keep cats or dogs when allergies flare up due to the presents.These people need not live their lives without a companion pet.A wonderful alternative does exist, Boa Constrictors. Boa Constrictors can help fill the empty gap that exists in a persons life when their allergies force them to give up having cats or dogs around. There are so many different colors ,Localities ,Morphs and patterns to choose from.Large Adult Boas like Colombians or smaller forms such as Central American Boas. Nicaraguan or Honduran Boas are popular Central American (C.A.) Boas people enjoy collecting.Then there are island Boas ,such as Hogg island,corn island or crawl cay Boas.None of these C.A. or Island variety Boas tend to get very large.This makes all of the C.A. Boas popular Boas in collections as pets!!

Boa Constrictors make great pets!! They are very easy going docile animals.They cause no harm to humans, and have no interest in doing so. Statistically no person has ever been killed by a Boa Constrictor in the United States almost certainly not world wide either.

I'll never understand why so many people have such agreat fear & hatredof Snakes. Of course, Venomous snakes are dangerous,deadly and certainly pose a danger to any human. Although most snake bites areaccidents.The snake bites in defense after being stepped on by an unaware human.Most People are never in a position to be exposed to venemous snakes though. What doesn't make sense are people with an intense hatred or extreme fear of Boa Constrictors? These animals,for the most part are extremely gentle and timid creatures. Boa Constrictors are quiet non aggressive snakes. The onlytime Boas become aggressive is at feeding time for the most part. Of course there are exceptions to this .Boas can act out aggressively if they feel threatened with harm.In captivity most Boas feel quite secure ,remaining calm and quiet. Boas can eat a wide variety of animals in their natural habitat. Which is for the most part the Jungles of Central and South America.Boas diet consists of Lizards, Rodents, other snakes, birds, and small mammals to name a few. The Boa Constrictor will normally feed on an animal smaller in size then the Boas girth at the largest spot. Boas can not & will not eat or attempt to eat homo Sapiens! Homo Sapiens a far too large for the Boa Constrictor to take notice! The Boa "Constricts" its prey not crushing it to death but suffocating it to death. Every time the prey breaths out the Boa tightens its grip eventually the prey item can not inhale a breath and suffocates.In captivity Boas are fed a diet of mostly medium & Large Adult Rats.Young smaller Boas are fed mice of appropriate size. The size of the food item corresponds directly to the size of the Boa. Some Boas are fed rabbits.Most Breeders feed their Boas pre-killed rats.A Rat can badly injure or even kill a Boa.Plus, personally I just don't Like the idea of putting a poor rat in the cage to killed by the Boa. Also I think pre-killed or frozen thawed in my case helps keep the Boa even that much more docile. The Boa Constrictor species consists of a large varietyof Locality Boas and color pattern Morphs.There are two main groups or classification of Boa Constrictors. These two groups are "BCI"- "Boa Constrictor Imperator" and "BCC"- "Boa Constrictor Constrictor". "BCC" Boas are often referred to as "True Redtails" due to their bright orange/red or maroon/ burnt-Red tails.Almost all Boas have a reddish or orange colored tail,not all though. The BCC Boa mainly comes from South America near the Equator. Peru , Guyana, Surinam, Brazil the Amazon Basin.Other SouthAmerican Boa speciesexist,Bolivian Amarali Boas,fromBolivia of course. Bolivian Boas are very beautiful silver greyish colored Boaswith bright orange ,red,purple or fluorescent pink highlights on their flanks and a short amount of reddish color tail splotches. Argentina has their own variety of Boa as well.These Argentine Boas are very dark colored.This dark color probably exists so the Boa can warm up from the Sunshine quicker beingthe farthest South of the Boa Species. Argentina's more harsh weather climate forced the Argentine Boas to adapt. Argentine Boas are protected By "CITES" because they were hunted for their skins so much in the past.There are many other Locality Boas I have just touched the surface here with the more well known or popuplar species. Other types of Boas within these groups of "BCI" & "BCC" Boas exist.I'll refer to them as color and Pattern Morph Boas. There are many natural occurring Color and pattern Morph Boas that have been discovered. Many of the Color and Pattern Morph Boas are Man made or developed.Some of the natural occurring Morphs are T- Albino Boas-red eyes lacking red Black pigment or Tyronase.Tyronase is what the "T" stands for. There are two types or strains of T- Albino Boas. The original Strain or Kahl strain and the other is the Sharp StrainAlbi no Boa.T- Albino Boas are more common then T+ Albino Boas.There are very few people who own T+ Albino Boas.There are two types of T+ Albino "BCI" Colombian T+ Albino Boa or CaramelAlbino Boas as some people call them. The other "BCI" T+ Albino is the Nicaraguan T+ Albino. Argentine T+ Albino Boas also exsist.Another natural occurring Morph Boa is the "Anery" Boa short for Anerythristic Boa.The "Anery" Boa Lacks any red pigment and should appear white or sliver and black,some are a brownish color though. Another Morph is the "Hypo" Boa short for Hypomelanistic. Then there are some natural occurring pattern Morph Boas Like the Arabesque or theMotley Boa. Pictures area better explanation for these two Morphs.Then there are many man made Morph Boas .Breeders combine these Natural occurring Morphs to create Boas Like the Snow Boa which is a combination of the T- Albino and the Anery Boas. Sunglow combo of the T- Albino and "Hypo" Boas. Ghost Boas are a combo of "Hypo" and "Anery" Boas. Pastel Boas Stripe Boas and many other types of Morph Boa exist.T+ Albino Boas are very rare though.Only something like six people in the entire world own Colombian T+ Albino "Caramel" Boas. As for T+ Nicaraguan very few of these exist either. T+ Argentine Boas are rare but there are quite a few more of these then the other two. So over all what's not to Like about Boa Constrictors .Boa Constrictors are mellow easy going animals. With beautiful markings and coloring. Boas not all but alot of them are very intelligent acting. Some Boas are even socialable animals and interact with people very well. SomeBoas know there names but like most kitty-cats they don'tcome when they are called either. They do Look at you when there name is spoken the special Boas ,not all of them. There is no dander or hair shedding from Boas. So allergies are not a factor.Boas shed their skin every few few months that's usually in one piece.They kind of roll it off starting from the tip of their nose working it off towards the tail.Once the skin has been shed it's inside out and rolled up much Like a women rolls up her stockings/Panty Hose. Feed the Boa a frozen thawed rat every seven to twentyone days aproximately.Keep there water dish clean & full as well as their enclosure .There's not much else to keeping them as pets.Breeding them is another story altogether.Well I'll put a few pictures up now and again to show all the different types of Boas.